Beginnings
by Frek
Summary: [Four Brothers] A story about the beginning of the Mercer family starting with Bobby. Rated T for now, that could change in later chapters. Chapter 2 now up
1. Jail House Rock

A/N- Okay I haven't written a fic in soooo long so we'll see if I can accomplish 2 things with this one. 1) if I can actually finish the whole darn thing and 2) if it doesn't suck, only time will tell I suppose. This story is basically the very beginning of the Mercer family. Everyone seems to be starting with when Jack comes, but I thought it would be interesting to see how Evelyn tamed Bobby first and how he learns to be so protective of his little brothers. I adore reviews good and bad (well not the bad one's so much but if it sucks pals tell me so I can try to make it not suck, heh) Okay, now on with the story.

Beginnings- Jail House Rock

Young Bobby Taylor trudged through the busy hallways of the Detroit Juvenile Detention Center accompanied by a rather sour looking uniformed guard. He was on the home stretch of a month long sentence for nearly beating a couple of kids to death, not that anybody ever asked Bobby if he started it or even if the other chumps had weapons while Bobby was unarmed. But he had a long history so it was automatically his fault, a fact of life at this point for him. And now with only a few days left till his release Bobby was definitely not surprised that he had a visitor, his first since his arrival. It would be his case worker John, here to tell the him that after this stunt and subsequent stay in Hell there would be no where to send him, no foster homes would even touch him. Not that it would bother Bobby too much, it was easier in the group homes with other lost causes like him, and they mostly just ignored the older kids anyway. As Bobby and his escort reached the double doors to the large visitation room, he stopped short at the threshold, dumbfounded. In the middle of the room filled with long tables and benches sat his case worker, not unusual especially in the detention center. What stopped Bobby in his tracks was that seated next to John was a woman in her mid 40's with short curly blonde hair. They were talking animatedly and Bobby could see her smiling as they spoke.

The guard behind Bobby shoved him roughly into the room breaking him from his reverie and drawing John and the woman's attention to him. Bobby looked back at the guard and glared, who only nodded for him to go sit down. "Prick," Bobby muttered as he strode to the middle of the room, stopping at the occupied table.

"Bobby, glad to see you haven't been stirring up more trouble during your stay here," John motioned for the teenager to sit across from them.

"Nobody here worth fighting," Bobby shrugged casually as he slid onto the hard plastic bench.

"Be that as it may, I seriously hope you actually learn something from this experience. You're 14 years old Bobby, pretty soon they're gonna start sending you to the real deal if you don't clean up your act. And believe me prison is no picnic, especially for 16 year olds." Taking a deep breath and trying to ignore the boys bored expression, John plowed on, "Bobby I want you to meet Evelyn Mercer." John forced a smile on his face, trying not to let his annoyance at the teen's hard headedness show as he gestured to the woman next to him.

"Hello Bobby, I've heard quite a bit about you." Evelyn smiled warmly at him.

"Then what are you doing here?" Bobby snorted. "You're not one of those bible thumpers are you? Gonna tell me that God loves me and just wants me to be a good little bastard, is that it?" His sneer was almost feral and sarcasm dripped from his words as Bobby stared down this woman who seemed so warm and friendly. He knew how easy it was for adults to fake that, he'd fallen for it too many times to be taken in by the nice words and sweet smiles. They all just wanted him to shut up and do what he was told, and if he didn't like it, well the alternative was usually worse.

"Not exactly Bobby," Evelyn's smile dug deeper into her cheeks. "I just wanted to meet you and tell you that when you're released on Thursday you'll be coming to live with me. I've got your room all set up, and you'll have a few weeks before school starts to get adjusted."

"Whatever, anything else?" Bobby cracked his knuckles and slouched on the bench.

"No that'll be all Bobby. I'll be here on Thursday morning to pick you up. Please don't do anything dumb between now and then," John practically pleaded.

"Who me?" Bobby smirked at the exasperated adult as he stood from the table.

"It was nice meeting you Bobby," Evelyn said seriously as she got up and walked around the table to the teen. She gently put a hand on his shoulder and gave it a warm squeeze, "You're gonna be fine," she smiled and then stepped back.

Not knowing how to handle the warm farewell Bobby mumbled something that sounded like "Yeah sure," and then fled back to the guard at the doors.

"Evelyn you don't know what you're getting yourself into with this one," John sighed as he watched the boy's scowling form being led out of the room.

"Hmm, we'll see," her eyes twinkled as she took Johns arm and led him from the room.


	2. Sour Memories

A/N- Alright everybody sorry it took so long to get this chapter out, but as you can see it got kind of long. I really didn't mean for it to run this long but I guess my muse just kinda ran away with me. I would like to thank all my reviewers, cause they're the reason I'm actually trying not to flake out on this story. So thank you to –

**Ginny- **Thank u so much for the awesome review  No Bobby is the first, but hopefully I'll be able to get this to the point of where each of the brothers comes to live with Evelyn

**Darkdestiney2000-** Hope this doesn't disappoint you

**Zoe- **I'm trying!

**x0x HeavenSent-** I know I wish more people would write about Bobby, Jack is awesome, but Bobby's such a cool guy

**JaynaConnor- **Thanks for your kind words, I hope you like this next part

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**Sour Memories**

The last few days in Juvie flew by for Bobby Taylor, faster than he would have particularly liked. This Evelyn woman looked like she was gonna raise a stink, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to deal with it. Seriously, after all the shit he'd gone through in his short life how in the hell could he be expected to care about cleaning his room or going to school? Bobby snorted loudly as he sat on his bunk waiting for the guard to come get him. Just thinking about himself as a straight A's All-American boy made him want to punch himself. And what exactly was so wrong with Bobby Taylor that made everyone he met try to change him into someone else. Most parents wanted their kids to be confident and be able to handle themselves, but apparently they still wanted the kids to be subservient and weak in the face of their parents. The young delinquent could only shake his head at the double standards parents held. He was done changing himself for anyone else though, he'd tried it before and it only made it worse for everyone.

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Flashback

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He'd been taken from his mom at the age of five, his father a deadbeat who left shortly after he was born. Not that Bobby could remember his birth mother very much, she'd apparently lost her mind on heroine and after enough complaints from the neighbors Bobby was whisked away, never to see her again. Though he never knew as a child what had happened to her after he was put into foster care, he later found out that shortly after his mother had overdosed. His first few placements happened all in quick succession. For one reason or another each family just couldn't handle little Bobby and his case worker would show up, pack his worn suitcase and take him to the next stop on the train as he had come to think of it. All he had known in his first 5 years of life was a mother that really didn't care, he did what he wanted when he wanted, and the quick tour of a good many of the foster homes in the Detroit area didn't exactly help bobby learn to fit in.

At nine years old Bobby found himself on yet another new doorstep, feeling frustrated. His last placement hadn't been bad, the mom and dad were actually pretty cool and they worked all the time. All he had to really contend with was being bossed around by their two real kids, and they let him have his run of things as long as he was home by the time their parents got home and didn't get arrested. He'd been there 6 months but that was too good to last and two nights ago the younger sibling had decided that it'd be fun to push the little bastard around, and Bobby sent him to the hospital with a broken nose and bruised testes. Apparently his foster parents were real cool until one of their kids got hurt, at which point he was no longer a hard luck case and suddenly became a dangerous thug. Bobby rolled his eyes as he stood on the porch with his case worker waiting for the door to be answered. John had assured him on the ride over that this family was going to be different, he was gonna be here for a while. Bobby had his doubts; the house was in a nice suburban neighborhood far away from his familiar territory.

The front door opened and there stood couple in their mid 30's that actually seemed genuinely glad to see him. Well everyone was nice at first, Bobby thought wryly. They came out on the porch and warmly introduced themselves as Jan and Scott Jones to which Bobby threw out a causal "Hey." After a few more pleasantries and a nod to him John left Bobby standing on the porch with his new family.

"Well come on inside we'll get you all settled and then figure something out for dinner." Jan held the door open and Scott took his suitcase. Hesitating a second longer, Bobby sent up a silent prayer to whoever might be listening that maybe John was right, maybe this was the last stop for him.

So far so good was all Bobby could think. It had been two weeks in the Jones house and things were actually looking up. They gave him his space without ignoring him, the only thing they said about his room was that he had to live in it, and they actually acted like they wanted to talk to him instead of at him. School had been a different story, scrubby little Bobby stuck out like a sore thumb amongst his upper middle class school mates. And of course someone had quickly spread the story that he was a trouble making foster kid from central Detroit. Rumors were flying all over the place, and the teachers were already looking at him sideways. It was inevitable and by Wednesday Bobby got into a fight with a smart ass bully in his class. Although the reaction from his foster parents wasn't what he thought it would be. Jan had come to get him from the principal's' office and wasn't really mad, just looked a little disappointed. At home that night they sat Bobby down and he'd feared the worst.

"Bobby we know that you've had a rough life so far and that it's really hard to get used to being in a new place and a new school." Jan began calmly, Bobby waited for the other shoe to drop. "We really want you to stay with us, but you're going to have to learn to control yourself sooner or later so you might as well start now. We're not asking you to be perfect. We just want what's best for you, we want you to fit in and have a normal life."

"So we've been talking Bobby, and we want to make you a deal," Scott looked directly at him. "Clean up your act. No more fighting, running around with hoodlums, or sneaking out at night," at Bobby's startled look Scott smirked. "Yes we know about the sneaking out at night, running off to god knows where. That's got to end. Also you're going to have to start taking school seriously. We don't care about straight A's or anything, but we know you're very bright and we want you to at least make an effort. "

"If you do this Bobby we promise you'll always have a home with us. We want you to be our son. All Scott and I want is for you to be part of our family. But unless you help us out it's never going to work for any of us. Family is all about give and take Bobby." Jan leaned forward and squeezed one of his hands.

"Alright Bobby why don't you go upstairs and get ready for bed, we'll give you some time to think about this." Scott got up and ruffled the boy's shaggy hair. Warily eyeing the adults, Bobby retreated up the stairs.

Lying in bed, Bobby wondered how these two practical strangers could know how to cut him so deep. Family, son. The words he had longed to hear for years, but as of yet found no one to say them to him. He was always the foster kid; nobody in 4 years had even mentioned the idea of keeping him. In the dark he dared to dream that maybe he could be part of something filled with love and caring instead of pain and fear. In the back of his head had always been the idea that he was unlovable, after all, his mother had loved the drugs far more than him and his father hadn't even stuck around to meet him. And there had so far been no evidence to the contrary, almost all of his placements had been more about pity for the screwed up little boy than actual love. He sighed and rolled over in his bed, should he give it a try? Bobby spent the better part of the night warring with himself. What if he agreed and he still wasn't good enough for them, he didn't know if he could take that kind of rejection. Bobby, like most kids in foster care, had learned to build up walls around him to keep the real hurts out. Taking down those walls was not an easy task.

The next morning, after a very long sleepless night, Bobby came downstairs for breakfast. Plopping himself in chair, the little boy looked up at his foster parents with fear in his eyes. Scott and Jan watched him curiously as he proceeded to play with his cereal. But after a few minutes of silence Bobby looked back up at his foster parents and voiced his hard fought decision. "Okay, I want to stay, I'll try." The two adults smiled broadly and then walked around the table and enveloped the boy in a fierce hug.

"Thank you Bobby," Jan whispered in his ear.

It wasn't easy for Bobby the next few months, but by sheer will power he managed to clean up his act. After that first fight everybody at school pretty much left him alone, except of course the boy that had been on the receiving end of Bobby's fists. Still though, the thought of having to leave what had quickly become his home gave him the strength to walk away from confrontations. His teachers were completely taken off guard by bright Bobby really was once he actually starting doing his work in class. And, much to his own surprise, Bobby made a couple of friends at school. At home Bobby found himself the center of attention, and actually liking it. Going out to movies and doing stupid corny things like putt-putt became his life. And after 4 months things were going incredibly well for Bobby, even John had noticed how well he was doing in the Jones home. The word adoption had even come up here and there in conversation, Bobby was happier than he could ever remember being in his life.

But one fateful day would forever change young Bobby's outlook on family. It had started out innocently enough the normal morning routine Scott dropping him off at school on his way to work. The day was going fine until after lunch. The class was doing quiet work and Bobby was doodling on his notebook when the classroom door opened. The principal came in and quietly talked to the teacher for a minute. He hadn't even done anything wrong, but somehow Bobby knew this was gonna bite him in the ass. And sure enough the teacher started towards him while the principal looked on, obviously not happy about something.

"Bobby the Mr. Allen would like to speak to you. Please go with him."

He stood and looked around, trying hard to think of what he might have done. His gaze landed on Alex the bully, and his rage started to bubble. The kid met his gaze and an evil smile was spread across his face. This was all Alex's doing; Bobby could feel it in his bones. Clenching his fists, he resisted the urge to fly across the room at the smug jerk. Slowly he walked to the front of the room and followed Mr. Allen out of the room. The principal led Bobby through the hallways but for some reason they weren't heading for the office. All too soon the detour became clear as they came upon a couple of police officers examining an open locker. The hallway echoed loudly with the flash and snap of the camera held by one of the officers.

"Bobby, we're very concerned. This is very serious, I'm afraid you didn't leave us with many options" Mr. Allen shook his head as they watched the officers carefully remove several knives and a notebook Bobby had never seen before out of his locker.

"Mr. Allen I'm serious man, I've never seen those before in my life!" Bobby was incredulous.

"Oh really, then what about this?" The principal reached for the notebook, opening it to the first page, which was filled with names. On closer inspection Bobby could see that most of the names on the list were people in the school, kids and teachers that he didn't have much love for. With one look at the principal's face Bobby knew he was already condemned. And at that point he almost lost it completely but before he could Mr. Allen said, "We've already called your parents, they're on their way here. Is there anything you'd like to tell us before they get here Bobby?"

Bobby simply glared up at the principal in reply. Shaking his head he stalked off towards the principal's office with Mr. Allen following behind him. Bobby took a few deep breaths as he walked, Jan and Scott would believe him. They had to know by now that he would never do something this stupid, and if he did want someone dead he wasn't stupid enough to bring a bunch of knives to school and leave a hit list in his locker. The whole thing was ridiculous to Bobby; couldn't everyone see how crazy this was? They had promised and he'd cleaned up his act; he wanted to be their kid. They were his parents now and they had told him that many times over the past few months. He just had to play it cool, if he blew up at Mr. Allen and those damn smug ass cops it would just prove their point. So, Bobby clenched his fists at his sides and sat down in one of the chairs in the principal's office willing himself to keep his mouth shut for a little longer.

The next half hour passed slowly, the tension in the air almost electric inside the office. Finally, the office door opened and in walked Jan and Scott. Bobby let out a slow breath of relief; his parents would straighten this out.

"Please have a seat Mr. and Mrs. Jones; this is a very serious situation. It is our goal here at Jamison Elementary to provide a safe learning environment all of our students. To that end we have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to weapons and threats. With all of the evidence that was recovered from Bobby's locker today we have no choice but to expel him, and hope that he will learn how serious a matter this is. Also his social worker has been notified and Bobby will have to appear in family court on the weapons charges. "

By the time Mr. Allen finished his sermon Jan had tears leaking from her eyes and Scott was clenching his jaw. "Mr. Allen we're incredibly sorry that all this has happened. My wife and I thought we were finally making progress with Bobby's behavior problems. But apparently we were wrong. "Scott turned to look at Bobby, a very grim expression on his face. "Bobby I thought we had a deal? Jan and I are really disappointed in you."

Bobby gaped at the adults in the room. They had to be joking, there was no other explanation for how ridiculous all of this was. "Seriously? You guys aren't even gonna hear me out on this one?" Bobby tried his hardest not to sound as angry as he felt.

"Well what kind of explanation is there for this Bobby," Jan asked with wide eyes. "I mean threatening all those other children and the teachers."

"Those knives aren't mine; I've never seen any of them before in my life! And why the hell would I just leave shit like that in my locker at school anyway? Do you guys really think I'm that stupid? Somebody set me up, why can't you guys see that. Living with you guys has been the best thing I've had going why would I wanna screw that up?" Bobby passionately appealed to his foster parents.

"We have a very reliable source who saw you putting the weapons in your locker, and who was also threatened by you Bobby," Mr. Allen replied logically.

"Yeah I bet. He was the one who set me up. Alex is still pissed cause I beat the crap outta him when I first got here and I refuse to bow down and kiss his prissy little ass."

"Bobby that's ridiculous, can't you please just tell us the truth. We can find a way to work through this but you've got to own up to your mistakes."

It was then that Bobby realized that Jan and Scott had been all talk when they said they would be his parents. In the end they were just as willing to believe any of the nasty things they heard about him. They didn't know him at all, and they didn't want to know him. They just wanted to be able to say that they took this poor messed up kid and made him into the perfect child, with none of the hard work. He crossed his arms across his chest and leaned back in the chair. Fine if that's the way they wanted to play, fuck them. Bobby carefully took all the hurt he was feeling Jan and Scotts utter rejection of him and balled it up, shoving it deep down inside him. He wasn't going to let them know how much they had hurt him, they obviously didn't care anyway. But someone was going to pay for this, and Bobby already had a good idea who it was gonna be.

The meeting in Mr. Allen's office broke shortly after Bobby refused to say anything else. Jan and Scott took him home, though Bobby would never think of it as that again. What was once sanctuary was now a prison, full of lies and fake smiles. John came by to let him know that the hearing in family court would be in three days. Bobby tried to appeal to John, but all he would say is, "Bobby I know you're not stupid enough to get caught with something like this, but there s nothing I can do. All the evidence is against you, I'm sorry I really am." And then John left.

That night Bobby didn't say another word to his foster parents and ended up spending long sleepless night thinking about his situation. He came to two conclusions. First of all Alex was gonna pay dearly, and by the end of the night Bobby had a workable plan to exact his revenge. Secondly, that he would never even try to change himself for someone else, especially those who would call themselves "parents." It just wasn't worth it to set himself up for such a let down. If they didn't like Bobby for who he was, well fuck them.

After two awkward days of silence, Bobby was finally ready to get his revenge on that little bastard Alex and get the hell out of the Jones house. Jan and Scott had been trying to get him to see the 'error of his ways' or something to that effect, but he was done with them. He'd been confined to the house so he'd had to sneak out the past two nights to get everything ready for the night's festivities. Bobby smiled at the thought of what he was going to do that night, Alex was going to learn you don't mess with Bobby Taylor. When finally it turned 1am and he knew that the Jones would be out cold, Bobby changed into the clothes he had stolen off of someone's clothesline the night before. Chuckling at the mismatched pink t-shirt and jeans that were at lest 4 sizes too big, he pulled on the old pair of sneakers that had been salvaged from a trash can a few doors down. Grabbing his backpack, Bobby eased open the window and silently fled into the night. Whoever said that revenge was a dish best served cold obviously never met this delinquent, because Bobby's anger was white hot. It didn't take long to gather his stashed supplies, and soon enough he found himself standing in front of Alex's house.

Typical of the neighborhood Alex's parents were well off, the large two story house in perfect condition with a manicured lawn and blue shutters on the windows. "Not for much longer" Bobby mused happily. Going around the back, he took out the gas can he had stolen from another neighbor's garage the previous night and proceeded to douse the attached screened-in porch on the back of the house with the accelerant. Casually, he fished a book of matches out of his pocket and struck up a flame. Bobby watched the fire flicker for a moment before resolutely lighting the whole book of matches ablaze and tossing them into the puddle of gas that trailed to the porch. The fire was hot and fast as it raced up the gas soaked porch. 

"And that's why you don't fuck with Bobby Taylor" he murmured before quickly heading back for his backpack, making sure that nothing was left behind that would incriminate him. He took the long way back to the Jones' house ditching his borrowed duds in some random trash can and putting on his pajamas. All in all he was home before Alex's smoke detectors could go off. Bobby smirked and fell into a sound sleep for the first time in days.

In the morning Bobby was awakened by Scott coming into his room and announcing that there was a police officer there to speak to him. He shrugged and followed Scott downstairs, cool as could be. And, just as he knew it would be, the cops had nothing on him. Every one had their suspicions but couldn't prove a damn thing. He wanted to shout at Scott and Jan, who were shocked to find out about the fire at Alex's house, that this is what happens when Bobby really decides he wants to get you. Soon the policeman left and John showed up to take him to the hearing. The judge had said that because of Bobby's unremorseful attitude he was sentencing him to a month in juvenile detention where he would receive counseling. Bobby didn't mind, it got him away from the Jones' who didn't even show up to the hearing.

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End Flashback

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The door of his room opened, bringing Bobby back to the present. "Come on Bobby, time to go."

Leaving the bare room behind Bobby swore again to himself that he would never let anyone hurt him like that again.

-end pt 2-


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